The Daily Grind: How do you like side applications?
by Eliot Lefebvre 
Feb 5th 2010 at 8:00AM
Filed under: Culture, Opinion, The Daily Grind
It's not unprecedented by any means, as both Fallen Earth (coming soon) and Champions Online also offer applications for the iPhone to help take care of the game's management functions while you're away from your computer. With the continued advent of more functional mobile devices and more robust web environments through services such as Facebook, games can offload many of the more tedious bits of gameplay into applications players just run through quickly on a break at their day job. What do you think of the increasing trend? Are you happy to have the option to take care of administrative tasks when not near your computer, or do you see it as intrusive and unnecessary?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Anon said on 8:14AM 2-05-2010
I don't care one way or the other, when i'm at work, I'm working, when I'm out fishing I'm fishing.
Although, it is pretty cool to be able to set your character to mining or whatever and when I do come back to play the game, I don't have to sit there and watch my character mining for 6-10 hrs, I can get on with other activities I enjoy more, like hunting, raids etc.
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SkyStreak said on 8:13AM 2-05-2010
Seems like a great idea to me.
On a fairly regular basis, I spend 20-40 minutes in-game taking care of what I call "Character Maintenance."
To be able to take care of that while on a break at work or when I'm having breakfast or lunch would be great.
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Hans Gruber said on 8:19AM 2-05-2010
These ancillary utilities are good for the players and developers, as the broaden the scope of the game and keep their customers involved (and hence, more interested and likely to keep playing and paying).
I used to use Capsuleer when I played EVE.
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lethality said on 8:30AM 2-05-2010
External applications that give players access to in-game data or activities are critical going forward - it's going to be expected.
This is also a good move for game developers because it allows players to stay connected to the game even when they're not playing, thereby increasing their affinity for the game... extending subscriptions.
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inazagi86 said on 9:34AM 2-05-2010
It's a good idea game and business wise.
Not so good in terms of health.
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Dumac said on 11:02AM 2-05-2010
Dislike.
Not everybody has an iPhone or some other overly expensive smartphone, so i feel i am at a disadvantage. I also think that it may be useful and a time saver at first, but it would swiftly take the fun out of management and just become tedious.
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enamelizer said on 12:29PM 2-05-2010
One of the best external tools I have ever encountered was in Anarchy Online. You could access in-game chat from a web browser.
Being able to keep in contact with your player group when you are not able to play is genius, and really adds to community. I am really surprised this feature is not used more, or requested by players more.
The more external tools the better, it allows you to focus on gameplay instead of management tasks when you have time to play.
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Veplerion said on 3:11PM 2-05-2010
I'd like it better if Blizzard and other developers would pay more attention to other smart phones (Android, Palm WebOS). Not everyone has an iPhone, or even wants one.
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Valdamar said on 10:30PM 2-05-2010
"games can offload many of the more tedious bits of gameplay into applications players just run through quickly on a break at their day job"
I'd rather they just got rid of the tedious gameplay.
The only side applications I use are character planners and they're all 3rd party applications made by fans.
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